Chapter 38

The Sea On Fire

The night following our abandonment of the Parki, was made memorable
by a remarkable spectacle.

Slumbering in the bottom of the boat, Jarl and I were suddenly
awakened by Samoa. Starting, we beheld the ocean of a pallid white
color, corruscating all over with tiny golden sparkles. But the
pervading hue of the water cast a cadaverous gleam upon the boat, so
that we looked to each other like ghosts. For many rods astern our
wake was revealed in a line of rushing illuminated foam; while here
and there beneath the surface, the tracks of sharks were denoted by
vivid, greenish trails, crossing and recrossing each other in every
direction. Farther away, and distributed in clusters, floated on the
sea, like constellations in the heavens, innumerable Medusae, a
species of small, round, refulgent fish, only to be met with in the
South Seas and the Indian Ocean.

Suddenly, as we gazed, there shot high into the air a bushy jet of
flashes, accompanied by the unmistakable deep breathing sound of a
sperm whale. Soon, the sea all round us spouted in fountains of fire;
and vast forms, emitting a glare from their flanks, and ever and anon
raising their heads above water, and shaking off the sparkles, showed
where an immense shoal of Cachalots had risen from below to sport in
these phosphorescent billows.

The vapor jetted forth was far more radiant than any portion of the
sea; ascribable perhaps to the originally luminous fluid contracting
still more brilliancy from its passage through the spouting canal of
the whales.

We were in great fear, lest without any vicious intention the
Leviathans might destroy us, by coming into close contact with our
boat. We would have shunned them; but they were all round and round
us. Nevertheless we were safe; for as we parted the pallid brine, the
peculiar irradiation which shot from about our keel seemed to deter
them. Apparently discovering us of a sudden, many of them plunged
headlong down into the water, tossing their fiery tails high into the
air, and leaving the sea still more sparkling from the violent
surging of their descent.

Their general course seemed the same as our own; to the westward. To
remove from them, we at last out oars, and pulled toward the north.
So doing, we were steadily pursued by a solitary whale, that must
have taken our Chamois for a kindred fish. Spite of all our efforts,
he drew nearer and nearer; at length rubbing his fiery flank against
the Chamois' gunwale, here and there leaving long strips of the
glossy transparent substance which thin as gossamer invests the body
of the Cachalot.

In terror at a sight so new, Samoa shrank. But Jarl and I, more used
to the intimate companionship of the